Better Hiring Today

This recession is longer, deeper, and more painful than many business managers were prepared to handle. When things turn around – and they will – the expectations for the relationship between employer and employee will be dramatically different. A few key statistics highlight the coming shifts in the US workforce.

Here’s what you need to know:

Fact: 40% if the US workforce will be made up of independent contractors or contract-based labor by 2019, up from 26% today. (source: EPIC-MRA; Kelly Services)

Why: Older workers have seen their retirement accounts decimated by losses in the equities markets over the past 24 months, and they’ll need to work more years to make that magic nest egg number. Corporations haven’t done a very good job with succession planning, and they’ve been running so lean these past 2 years that middle management bench strength is nowhere near adequate. Additionally, many companies are shifting to a “get the labor that we need, when we need it” mentality, which is another way to say, “we’ll hire contractors on a per-project basis.”

What it Means: Ten years ago, it was unheard of to seriously look at a resume of a potential hire that had more than 3 positions in a five year period. Ten years from now, you’ll be seeing more and more candidates who have experience across multiple companies while working as a contractor. You won’t be able to dismiss candidates out of hand just because they appear to have short job stints. In the future, compressed job stints will be almost half of our nation’s employment.

Fact: In 2010, 28% of the US workforce will telecommute either part time or full time, up from 12% just ten years ago. (source: Gartner Dataquest)

Why: Companies are getting wise to the fact that telecommuting saves a ton of money…as much as 30% less per employee once you factor in savings with office rent, technology infrastructure, and other administrative overhead. And as corporate globalization continues to trend higher, project teams will become accustomed to having multiple disparate members located not just in multiple locations, but in multiple time zones.

What it Means: The notion of waking up in the morning and spending two hours driving to and from a desk – when you could do the same job, more productively, from a desk in your home – is going to make less and less sense to knowledge working in the economy of tomorrow. And it should make less and less sense to employers, as well, when they realize that employees typically replace those 2 hours of commuting time with 1.5 hours of productive work time, without working less hours overall.

Fact: 80% of employees want flexibility in their work arrangement provided it doesn’t harm their careers. (source: Georgetown University Law Center)

Why: As Gen X (those born 1965 – 1978) takes the management reigns from the Boomer generation, they bring with them a less structured view of the workplace. As managers, they’re less concerned with having people show up to a central work location every day. As employees, they’re accustomed to more flexibility in their employment arrangements. Attitudes about what constitutes “an office job” are radically different from the previous generation. Factor in Gen Y (born 1979-2000) and their propensity for “me first” work-life balance, and you’ve got some real change on your hands.

What it Means: Managers and companies will be required to rethink their view of employment, with the biggest change being the belief that people are after the top dollar possible. To the contrary, the research has shown that Gen X and Gen Y workers place a higher value on work flexibility than they do on salary or bonus. So, before you run off and throw money at that next crop of top-performing college seniors, consider that sabbaticals, time off for charitable pursuits, and generous flex time policies are all more effective – and cheaper – when the goal is attracting and retaining talent.

Few would argue that the US will emerge from this economic downturn without permanent changes to the way corporations plan for and manage employees. Make sure you’re on the front end of these huge changes in the way we work. You’ll be ahead of the game.

Sometimes it feels like companies make a concerted effort to drive their top-producing salespeople out of the organization and into the welcoming arms of the competition. If you read that line and chuckle, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

After all the time and effort expended to locate, hire, and train top producers, why in the world do most compaines do things that make their top salespeople quit? In my opinion, companies don’t pay attention to the basic drivers/motivators for top producers. If your company has a hard time holding on to salespeople, it’s probably for one of the following reasons:

You’ve changed their compensation structure. And not for the better. The #1 cause of a disgruntled top producer is negative modifications to their compensation structure. With salepeople, the comp plan is a sacred covenant - everyone agrees that these are the rules. Top producers inevitable knock the ball out of the park, and management says, “Uh-oh. These guys are making too much money.” So they change the comp plan. The usual suspects are caps on commissions (ludicrous), reducing overall commission payouts (kills trust faster than anything), and taking away clients to give to other salespeople (all that hard work, stolen away). Please, don’t do this stuff.
They have an unhealthy relationship with their manager. This ususally happens when the top producer’s previous boss - who was awesome - gets promoted and is replace by a less-than-awesome boss who feels like they have to prove their worth by tinkering with everything that was working. I call this, “New Boss Syndrome.” It goes something like this: (1) New boss enters the picture, (2) new boss fails to take the time to build relationships with the top producers, (3) new boss says or does something to piss the top producers off, (4) new boss’ involvement actually starts to hinder the top producers’ ability to produce (read: mandatory attendance at excessive and pointless “sales meetings”), (5) top producer starts accepting headhunter phone calls, (6) they leave.
You’ve increased their risk. This risk may be caused by poor company financial performance, a merger or buyout, or an overall macro decline in the size of the market for the product or service that they’re selling. This one’s a bit more difficult to counter, and I mention it only because you need to pay twice the attention to top producers when a broad-based decline hits your industry. They begin to consider that move to Career X that they’ve always dreamed about.
These things are what headhunters are tuned to when calling your salespeople. If they perceive that one of the above is going on, they’ll zero in on your top producers like a missle.

The truth about top producers is that if their ego is sufficiently stroked, if they are fed with good marketing support, if their comp plan is solid, and if you get the heck out of their way, then they’ll be happily making your company money for as long as things stay rosy. If, however, you’d like to make you top salesperson quit and go work for a competitor, you’ve been taught how to do so.

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